


take my heart clean apart

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dancing, Dom/sub Undertones, Feelings, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 12:07:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21208268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: hello :)) im back with another fic i actually talked abt in the last one - this one least smutty than the other mcu fics ive written lol





	take my heart clean apart

**Author's Note:**

> hello :)) im back with another fic i actually talked abt in the last one - this one least smutty than the other mcu fics ive written lol

Tony sighs, and it’s heavy, exhausted after coming home from a mission and putting an obviously over-worked Peter to bed. The kid always gets soft after a mission - his headspace making it easier to care for him. Tony thinks he needs a drink, even though it’s late. It’s been a long day, Tony uses that as an excuse, and he poured himself a glass of wine and turns on music. It’s not his first choice normally, but Tony’s not willing to go for something harder. The music blocks out the small ringing in the mechanic’s ears. He barely pays attention to the opening of a door, rubbing at his face with tired eyes. Tony takes a sip of the red liquid in his wine glass, watching the liquid swirl around. Sometimes he wonders about it. It’s a dark red, but even as it sits in the clear glass, it never leaves a trace for long. He shifts on the bar-stool he’s sat on.

Tony lifts the glass again, and then there are steady hands at the base of his neck, smooth and just a bit cold. Stephen never bothered to wear gloves when in battle, even during the cold. Something about disrupting the magic, Tony couldn’t bother to remember. “You scared me,” Tony says, and it’s a lie. Stephen chuckles quietly as if he believes it, soothing his hands over his lover’s shoulders. As much as they seem to clash when fighting on the battlefield, they work together well everywhere else, and Stephen knows how stressed Tony can get over the team. 

The Avengers were beyond words when Peter, Tony, and Stephen’s relationship came up casually in a conversation. Peter and Tony seemed reasonable, maybe Stephen and Peter, (everyone on the team gets along with Peter, the kid is just loveable), but _ Stephen and Tony? _The softness from Stephen toward his lovers was also a shock, he’s ruthless with knowledge everywhere else, but never has too harsh of words to say to Tony and Peter. Tony is less affectionate, but both of his boyfriends accept that, and it comes in handy when Peter tries to get away with something that he shouldn’t have done. Stephen has a soft spot for the kid, it’s obvious, and it’s different from his weaknesses that are associated with Tony. Tony, on the other hand, knows what Peter needs when he’s not being praised. 

“You’re tired, Tony. You should get some sleep.” Tony shakes his head, sighing. Stephen wraps his arms around Tony’s torso, sitting his chin on the inventor’s shoulder, pressing his body along the length of his back. Strange is always warm. Tony breathes a heavy breath with the heat against his back, allowing himself to enjoy it, to enjoy _ something _for once. Stephen has a thing - he always seems to know what people need. He reaches forward and gently takes the glass from Tony’s hand, setting it aside and moving away from his body. “C’mon. Dance with me.” They never really dance, never have time to, and although he’s tired, Tony gets up anyway.

The story in which Tony finds out Stephen Strange can dance is a long one. On one of the nights where they’d opened up - a few months before they’d started dating in the first place - Tony had asked about things he’d done before becoming a surgeon, in which Strange had replied that he was in dance classes for years. He’d spent hours that night teaching Tony a few basic moves, even though the engineer had known quite a bit from galas that he’d had to attend. Stephen’s hands wrapped in his, and Tony allows himself to be moved, the pair swaying gently.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Stephen’s voice is gentle, and of _ course, _he knows that something’s up. The soft sound of the music Tony had put on earlier plays in the background, guiding the doctor’s movements as he takes small, slow steps, right hand sliding to rub at Tony’s hip. His left-hand stays there, guiding them, wrapped in Tony’s, soft and steady against the mechanic’s rough palm.

“Sometimes I feel like I don’t work hard enough.” Tony sighs, leaning into Stephen and letting his head lay heavy on the other’s shoulder. Stephen hums gently, considering the words, pulling Tony closer so they’re toe to toe, bodies almost completely pressed together. Strange let his head rest on Tony’s, dragging them across the floor in gracious movements that make Tony look like a beginner.

“You work plenty, honey,” Stephen almost never uses pet names with Tony - never needs to. The team has never heard Strange use pet names with anyone other than Peter. ‘The team’ _ includes _ Peter, who’s usually in a soft headspace when he’s with Tony and Stephen alone and never pays attention to anything other than his boyfriends and their presence. “You work more than enough to get the job done. You work just as hard as Steve, and you work just as hard as Thor, too. You do your best. You just do it in your own way.” Tony sighs, and then Stephen lifts his head from the engineer’s and lifts their hands, twisting him around before bringing them back together. Tony sinks into the movements they make, eyes closing as soon as he lays his head back on Strange’s shoulder.

“I know, but sometimes I feel selfish for wanting to be recognized for the work I do. Like Steve is, maybe. I feel like I disappoint Peter, sometimes, too.” This is where Tony begins to ask himself who he thinks he is. Who does _ Tony Stark _ think he is, opening up? Who does he think he is, thinking that all his problems can be cured if he just _ talks _ about it? He’s spent years closed off, and all Stephen has to do is _ ask, _and then the dam is broken and it all just comes flooding out into a pile on the floor where all the valuable things that are perceived as junk - trash - are thrown. Stephen treats them as they are, though, and he always has, pulling back to place a hand on Tony’s cheek.

“Peter loves you, Tony, and you know that. Nothing you could ever do would disappoint him. Every time I look at him when you’re near, I swear I see stars in his eyes. You’re not the only one who talks and opens up to me, Tony, Peter talks about you as if you’re the best thing that’s happened to him. I know he loves _ me _ just as much. That’s why we’re still here.” Tony finds comfort in the way Stephen runs a thumb over his cheekbone. Tony _ knows _they love him, has always known, even before Peter had said ‘I love you’ for the first time to them on team movie night a year and a half ago. Stephen stops moving then, pulling Tony closer, wrapping his arms around him in a hug that has the engineer’s body melting. He’s tired.

“I love you both a lot,” Tony’s words are muffled by Stephen’s cape, which has half-wrapped itself around them, fabric barely sweeping the floor, “I don’t want you to think I don’t, or that I’m not trying hard enough.” Strange just stands there and hugs him, and Tony understands why Peter likes the gentle touch and praise so much. Stephen presses a kiss to Tony’s head, and if he’s proud of his lover for opening up he doesn’t say anything about it.

“I love you too, even if you don’t like to hear it sometimes.” Tony presses his face to Stephen’s neck, listening to the soft humming his boyfriend is doing. They stand there for a while, wine long abandoned and music drowned out by the surgeon’s slightly terrible humming.

Tony wakes up in their bed hours later.

  
  



End file.
